NDC is misguided on debt and development policy - CPP

Ghana’s Finance Minister, Seth Terkper was on Wednesday, candid on some of the failings of his government in his economic statement - "It is either we discipline ourselves or dissipate the opportunities that will arise when the economy shows any gain".

He was not candid however with the nation on the government’s debt management. There has been a quantum leap in the accumulation of debt under the NDC government – from Ghs9.5billion to Ghs88.2billion of public debt, a staggering increase of Ghs78.7billion in 7 years. The government has failed to tell the nation how this huge debt was utilized. It is deceptive and evasive to talk about debt management without disclosure on what these huge sums of money were used for, as utilization necessarily informs and directs debt management policy.

It is apparent that we are contracting debt to pay debts that are due because we have not applied debt income for industrialization and transforming our peasant agricultural economy.

It is also apparent that our current economic slump is the result of poor fiscal management and indiscipline. The government should admit to the inevitable detrimental consequences of debt accumulation and repayment that necessarily include the transfer of public wealth to those who lend to the government such as the IMF, and a reduction in national wealth. It explains the reduced capacity of government to make the necessary interventions to support our private and public sectors for investment in the strategic sectors which would in turn create jobs for social progress and economic growth.

We live in the time of a misguided and ill-advised government. A government that must make way for the political party that liberated our country from colonial serfdom and aspired to develop the productive resources of our country for the benefit and prosperity of her people.

On the issue of granting concessions of public assets to external private interests, a euphemism for divestment and expropriation, the government has displayed gross ignorance of current trends in acquisition of global assets as it relates to the capacity of governments to promote growth and global distribution of income.

It has been shown that inclusive of financial instruments, over 70 percent of African natural and financial resources are owned by external interests leading to the fact that it is only in Africa that per Capita Income is lower than per Capita Output. It is thus mindboggling how a government committed to the prosperity of her people is unaware that our resources feed the developed world and that we are a net exporter of capital and that our economic growth is impeded by deprivation and expropriation. The concession of our assets is therefore none other than a case of mis-education or corruption, or both.

We see before our very eyes, the NDC’s systematic, intentional efforts to hand over our FREEDOM and sovereignty as a nation. A nation intended to be a great producer of all manner of goods has been reduced to a large market for foreign goods - e-waste, second hand products, and inferior Asian merchandise. Our assets have either been sold off or run into the ground to the extent that our citizens lose faith that we can manage it ourselves. Ghana must and needs to work again; we must RECLAIM, REFORM and REVIVE our industries. RECLAIM, REFORM and REVIVE our faith in ourselves.

#CPPGOVTNOW

Samia Yaba Nkrumah

CPP Chairman and Leader

www.conventionpeoplesparty.org